Rescue, that is.

As you all know, I’m just a bit involved in NYC Shiba Rescue. You may or may not know that my sister, Debbie, had the rescue bug long before I did. She fosters and transports for Above and Beyond English Setter Rescue and she is also a moderator for the online transport community, Drive for Life. If it weren’t for Debbie, I never would have survived my first foray into rescue - saving Kaos from Miami Dade Animal Services and bringing her home to the northeast.

Even Miss ~T~ (jaqi now for those of you not in the know) has done her part in the past by donating a few drawings to raise money for Animal Haven Shelter.

Well, this weekend, T went on her first rescue transport. In Florida. Who was driving? None other than her father, my ex-hubby. They picked up three Shibas from a surrendering owner and drove them over 150 miles north to meet the next driver in the transport.

Rescue. It’s a family affair. Let’s spread it around.

We have a new little foster dog, Penny. She makes the fourth confused Shiba girl that has moved in to Snick’s territory. (Counting? Secret, Shayna, Lola - who didn’t stay long - and now Penny.) I’ll write more about Penny in a day or two… the point is that watching Penny and Snick made me realize what a great host and teacher Snickers has become.

To add to that feeling of pride, when I opened the mailbox today, mine and Snick’s Delta Society Pet Partner IDs were in there! We are registered Pet Partners now. I’m excited because that means Snickers can go into the public schools. We’re one step closer to my goal of being involved in humane education.

Good boy Snickers.

One of my readers pointed me towards a new blog a couple weeks ago and I’ve been enjoying it ever since. The most recent post is excellent and must be shared.

Please go enjoy The Dog Whisperer Might Be Right This Time at I Am Shiba.

Why did I not choose an easier breed to fall in love with and start a rescue for?? It’s bad enough that a majority of dogs (mixed and purebreds) that come into shelters and rescue are under-socialized and under-trained, but combine that with the Shiba Inu tendency to be dog aggressive (a lot) if they aren’t super socialized as puppies and… OY! SHIBAS!

Our need to play musical foster dogs never seems to end… it seems like someone is always trying to give us another otherwise-perfect-but-very-dog-aggressive Shiba. <sigh>

cross-posted from NYCSR’s blog

OK, first off, I have to say that the sound of two Shibas merrily destroying roasted lamb bones is almost as soothing as a stable full of horses chomping on their feed.

Today is Shay’s birthday. She’s THREE today. My special birthday present to her is… a brand new, wonderful, forever home! The main reason we’ve had Shayna as long as we have is because I took her off the available list over the holidays while I contemplated adopting her myself. It was a TOUGH decision because Snick and I are very attached to her and she’s clearly attached to us too. I finally decided that I’m too busy at this point in my life to give two dogs all the attention and training they need though. Shayna is sooooo affectionate, too; she needs a lot of loving from her humans, so I decided to find her a home where she would be LAVISHED with all the affection she could possibly ask for.

We’ve received a lot of applications for Shayna and one really jumped out at me a few weeks ago. After getting through the approval process, they came over this past weekend and spent several hours getting to know her. She was a little overwhelmed by all the attention and kept checking in with me, but she was definitely warming up to them by the time they left. I love that they understand it will take time for her to adjust to a new home and they’ve been asking me all the right questions about how to help her with the transition.

So, this Sunday I will be driving her to her forever family in NJ.

Happy Third Birthday Shayna. Snick and I will love you forever.

NYC Shiba Rescue, Inc. (NYCSR) is participating in Super Pet Expo this coming weekend. We will be there to help educate the public regarding purebred rescue in general and Shiba Inu rescue in particular. Education is an important part of our mission, so this event is a key step for us. In addition to educating consumers about breed rescue, we hope to also recruit new foster homes and raise funds for NYCSR!!!

If you will be - or can be - anywhere near Edison this weekend (Friday 4pm to 9pm, Saturday 10am to 8pm, Sunday 10am to 5pm), please stop by to say hello.

Super Pet Expo takes place in the NJ Convention & Exposition Center in Edison, NJ, and 20,000 people are expected to visit during the three day event. Visitors will be able to peruse 200+ exhibitors and will be inspired and educated by wildlife and pet presentations including:
- Ultimate Air Dogs. Led by former Major League Baseball player Milt Wilcox and his dog Sparky. Dogs run at speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour leaping into a 30,000-gallon swimming pool. Prizes are awarded for distance and height.
- Faith, The Biped Dog. Disabled since birth, Faith is a ‘You Tube’ favorite because of her amazing ability to walk on two legs.
- Pony rides, alpacas and more!

Visit superpetexpo.com for directions and for all show details including a list of all entertainers and demonstrations.

Snickers and I will be there the whooooole time (egads!) and we hope to see lots and lots of you there too!

Well… I’ve decided not to keep her. As much as Snick and I love her, I can’t handle - or afford - another full time dog. Shayna isn’t getting the leash training or the attention that she needs. I realized my primary reason for wanting to keep her was to keep Snickers company and that just isn’t enough of a reason. If there was another human in the house to give Shayna the kind of loving she wants, I would find a way to make the money piece work, but there isn’t. When I have more time for another dog, then Snick and I will adopt a friend for him, but not right now. In the meantime, we will find Shayna an awesome home and we’ll foster every now and then (with sanity breaks for me in between).

Recall is tough with any dog - some breeds more than others - and, well, I think the Northern/Spitz-type breeds probably take the cake on this one. Ask most owners of a Shiba Inu what happens when they call their dog and they’ll tell you they get one of two looks from the little darling… either “F you. Try and catch me!” or “Why? What’s in it for me???”

This topic has come up 3 times in the past week. Once on a Shiba mailing list, once on the meetup message boards, and just now by email from a new reader of this blog. Since it is such a hot topic, I decided to post here about it also. Snicks recall is fairly good - exceptional for a Shiba really. Here are a few things that helped get it that way.

• I have a life or death recall (”Snickers, COME!) and a common recall (”Come here Snick”). He knows the common recall is optional but the other is definitely not. This keeps me from “wearing out” his recall.
• He always, always gets yummy treats and happy praise when he responds to “Snickers, COME!” and I practice at random times so it isn’t just pattern trained.
• You should never give them the opportunity to fail when you train recall. Although I despise Flexi leads in the city, I started teaching him on a Flexi. I would let him get way ahead and then call him. If he didn’t turn back immediately, I would reel him in and then treat and praise. Be cautious in expanding their range. When I started doing it off leash, I started from about 3 feet away! First we did it at home and then at the dog run, but only when it was empty. I expanded the distance very gradually and waited until I was VERY confident before trying it with distractions. Add the distractions in slowly and always give big rewards.
• Don’t get in the habit of always using the life or death recall to make him leave fun things (like the dog run). Often, I will call Snick, treat and praise him, and let him go back to what he was doing. I want him to always feel like the reward for coming is greater than the potential for loss of freedom.
• Never, ever, EVER call them to you to punish or admonish them (even if they didn’t come the first time you called and you’re mad). If you need to correct your dog, go to him. The last thing you want is to teach your dog that he’s going to get in trouble when he responds to you!

Get ‘em while they’re hot! This is our first venture into fund raising. Please help us NOT crash and burn. (Click the preview below to visit the NYCSR Shop and buy yours today.)

OK, so I have a dilemma now. I’ve been through the pre-adoption process with two different adopters for Shayna so far and they’ve both fallen apart at the last minute. The first had a family emergency and the second found out they are about to be uprooted by the military.

Should Snick and I adopt Shayna?

• Yes, definitely. (82%)
• Maybe? (10%)
• No, you’ll regret it. (8%)

Total Votes: 71

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Of course, Snick and I have become more attached to Shay every day and vice versa. Most of you remember how upset Snick was after ~T~ and Secret moved out? Well, he’s loving having a buddy around every day again! A few mornings ago I was watching the two of them tear around the dog run so fast that both their tails were sticking out behind them and laughing at how much they enjoy each other. I started thinking maybe I should adopt her!

A couple nights ago, I took Shay to my friend lulu’s for a test run sleepover because it looks like I’ll still have her when Snick and I are supposed to be in Indianapolis for Christmas. lulu signed up as a temporary foster and said she’d keep Shay while I’m gone, so we were testing to see how lulu’s dog feels about that. lulu emailed me the next morning and said

She sat in front of the door for about an hour after you left. Then she curled up on the couch and went to sleep. she misses you and you can tell she doesn’t know why you left her here.

and then in reply to my reply a little while later

She wouldn’t sleep with me. I put her in the bed, but she got out. She slept on the couch. At the dog run, she sat at the fence and looked for you guys. I think it would be good if you adopted her. She’s very attached.

I keep bouncing the pros and cons around in my head and I just can’t figure out what the best decision would be. Please help me decide!

I think, if it were just about me and my own convenience, I wouldn’t do it. However, when I think of both Snickers and Shayna, I want to do it. Snick is very happy with a pal and Shay is obviously very happy living with us! Someone emailed me yesterday and said "Shayna was unhappy where she was and now she is happy and content. I would say go for it!!!" That makes sense. Yesterday I was leaning towards doing it. Today I am leaning towards not doing it. What do you guys think? At the very least, please vote. I’d love to see your comments or email on the subject also!

I have to show you these photos of Snick and Shay. They love each other!

Besides, you can’t go wrong with cute doggy pictures when you have nothing to blog about.

A friend of mine just sent me this photo, taken before Miss ~T~ and Secret went to live with T’s Dad.

I was crating Shayna at night and whenever I wasn’t home until she and Snick got to know each other better (and stopped fighting). Friday night, I let her sleep outside the crate for the first time. After I went to bed, Snick joined me as usual and a few minutes later Shayna hopped up on the bed too. I thought Snick might chase her off, but he didn’t. She’s done well… she stays on the opposite side of the bed from Snick and he doesn’t seem to mind. I had to go out a couple times without them today so I left them alone in the apartment with her out of her crate and that went well too. So, tomorrow, I’ll leave her out all day when I go to work. I think they’re fine. I took her bed out of her crate and put it by Snick’s (because she was stealing his bed when she wasn’t crated), so now they’re happily curled up side-by-side in their beds!

Snickers and I have our first NYCSR foster dog! Shayna was surrendered by her owner because she didn’t like sharing her home with puppies. (Her owner had other dogs that had puppies recently.) Shayna was apparently very unhappy and needed a place to live where she felt more comfortable. She’s definitely comfortable living with me!

And, as my friend Judith said when she met her yesterday… “She’s certainly Shayna!” (Shayna means beautiful in Yiddish and she is, indeed, quite beautiful.)

So… I’ve had a couple people email and IM me asking about Secret in the past few days and it made me realize just how little I blog lately. An aside to Janet in NC, owned by Teddy: I didn’t respond to your IMs because I was offline and didn’t receive them until several hours after you left them.

The Divine Miss ~T~ has gone to live with her father for a year and she took little Seeky with her. They spent the summer with my folks, as usual, and then went “home” to T’s dad’s place instead of coming home. It’s been a weird transition, since the longest T & I had ever been apart before this was a little over 4 weeks. The worst part of the transition was for poor Snick though. He MOURNED. He’s used to T going away for the summer, but this time all her stuff and her furniture went with her. He mourned her and Seeky for a few weeks. He kept looking for them and crying. It was really awful, but he finally adjusted to our new routine. T came home to visit, sans Secret, for Labor Day weekend and he was SO happy to see her.

So, anyway, that’s the reason I haven’t written about Secret for awhile. The good news is, that my concerns about her adjusting to being an only dog were unfounded. She seems to have really taken to it and a playful side of her personality has emerged. She’s also apparently taken QUITE a liking to T’s father.

And now you know… the rest of the story.

Snickers and I pupsat a couple of our buddies - Benno & Lily - this weekend. Snickers and Lily are in LUV. I got a couple quick videos of them playing together tonight.

Having the three of them in the apartment all weekend has been great, although walking them all together is often challenging! There’s a very primitive feel to having 3 Shiba wandering around the place, even in midtown Manhattan!

I have joked for a long time that Snickers is the Shiba Ambassador to NYC because so many people stop me on the street to find out what kind of dog he is. I have talked to people from all over the world about Shiba Inus.

Snick took his ambassadorial duties to the next level a couple weeks ago by deigning to be fawned over by hundreds of people at the AKC’s Responsible Dog Ownership Day in Madison Square Park. He was an incredibly good and patient boy and I couldn’t have been more proud of him. I’m so lucky to be owned by such a great dog.

 

To read more about what a successful event this was, please visit NYC Shiba Rescue’s blog.

I’m telling you, Shibas know how to party and it involves a lot of running and a lot of eating. Canine Cocktail Pawty #2 had both and was therefore a big hit. The running is a given when you put a bunch of doggies together in the huge event space at Animal Haven and the doggie eats were DIVINE (according to the masses of dogs surrounding the table anyway) and were provided - as was this photo - by Culinary Crossing.

Stay tuned. Pawty #3 is already in the works for the fall!

Follow the link for The Misanthropic Shiba, back when it was still funny as hell.

One of my meetup members posted some new photos today from our last meetup and this was in them. Ahhhh…. that’s my beautiful boy.

Our Shiba meetup group was founded on June 15, 2006. Our first meetup was scheduled for June 24, 2006, but was rained out and took place on July 1, 2006. We had a really nice turnout for a group that had only been around for two weeks… 14 people! The group got off to a great start and it has continued to grow and evolve.

We have 185 members and we’ve had 21 meetups so far, including a full blown, catered cocktail pawty and a couple of Shiba-only training workshops. In late March, we spawned a rescue group that has adopted out 3 Shibas already and has eight more in foster care at the moment.

We had our first anniversary meetup this past Saturday and a couple of our members got together and made a video. I was just watching it and noticed one of our rescue dogs (was Blueberry, now renamed Kodi) trotting along and smiling and having a good time at his first meetup after joining his new family. It made me SO HAPPY that I needed to post the video and brag about the group a little.

The NYC Shiba Inus present “The Canine Cocktail Pawty” to benefit Animal Haven SoHo. The first Canine Cocktail Pawty was such a hit, that these mischevious dogs have decided to do it again. We’ll be getting together for drinks, hors d’ouvres, off-leash play time, and a raffle.

What: Cocktails and Hors d’ouvres
Who: All the coolest dogs in town
When: 6pm, Sunday, July 22, 2007
Where: Animal Haven SoHo Adoption Center

Everyone is invited, regardless of breed or species! Well-behaved dogs attend free. Well-behaved humans pay $40 each. For details and to buy tickets online, visit caninecocktailpawty.com

This was Keiko. She was meant to be NYC Shiba Rescue’s ninth foster dog.

One week ago, I received an email… a real estate appraiser upstate had been to appraise a home and while she was there she saw a dog hiding under the house. Keiko was a four year old, female, red "wooly" Shiba. The owner of the home was being put into an assisted living facility by her daughter. The daughter was buying the home and Keiko was slated to be put to sleep. When the appraiser drove around to the back on her way out, Keiko came out to say hello.

 

Believe it or not, even though this was almost 200 miles away, NYCSR has a shelter contact nearby AND we were about to receive a dog from them. Said wonderful shelter contact agreed to evaluate Keiko for us. We contacted the daughter who agreed to let us help find Keiko a home and she put us in touch with her mother, Keiko’s owner. The evaluation took place last weekend and her owner asked us to “please find her a good home with a big yard.” Keiko was a sweet dog, although a little leery of the evaluator’s dog. The only problem we foresaw was that Keiko had never been leash trained. We were determined to take care of her though and a transport for both dogs was scheduled for tonight. We were making plans to take turns teaching Keiko to walk nice on a leash and then find her a great new home.

NYCSR’s Intake Director contacted Keiko’s owner yesterday morning to confirm the details, only to find out that her daughter had taken Keiko to be put to sleep the day before.

They said they would rather she be dead than not know if she was in a good home. How anyone could be so self-centered and have so little regard for the life of another being, I just don’t understand.

I’m so sorry Keiko. Rest in peace.

I went to the WORST MEETUP EVER today. Short summary:

• The Washington Square Park dog run was wet (hadn’t drained properly and dried from yesterday’s rain) and smelly.
• Only 7 Shibas showed up. I’ve never had less than 20 for a dog run meetup before! I know it was SUPPOSED to rain, but it was actually a beautiful day for a meetup. I don’t know where everyone was today.
• Some dumb@$$ (not a Shiba person) let one of our dogs out the gate (why don’t people understand about double gates???) and we spent over an hour searching the neighborhood for him. He was finally found, but it was so frightening and emotional.

Snickers got out of the dog run at 39th/10th once when he was 7 or 8 months old (I was the dumb@$$ that day) and it was a HORRIBLE experience. I had him in my sight the whole time though and he only went a few blocks before someone grabbed him. Today when Cody was missing, we had no idea where he was. We just fanned out and searched the neighborhood, leaving our cell numbers with tons of people along the way. Everyone now and again, someone would say they had seen him but then the trail would run cold again. It was absolutely horrible, especially for his owner who was completely beside herself until he was found. The crazy thing is that at some point he looped around and ran back to the park. When he was found, he was just sitting in the shade across the street from the park! Anyway, we’re all exhausted and thankful tonight. Damn those Shibas. They just won’t cut us a break!

The only times I have ever heard Snickers howl have been when I’ve left and gone out without him. He’s OK when I leave for work M-F mornings. He’s sort of OK when I leave at other times and T is here. BUT if I leave unexepectedly at any time that I would (should) be with him and T isn’t here to soothe him… he howls. He doesn’t bark, cry, whimper or scream. He howls. It’s pretty spooky because it sounds like a coyote is in the building, not my sweet little pup dog. It’s a long, low, forlorn wolf-like sound. So, why am I telling you this? Because I just ran across this:

We do know, however, that howling keeps packmates together, physically. Because wolves range over vast areas to find food, they are often separated from one another. Of all their calls, howling is the only one that works over great distances. Its low pitch and long duration are well suited for transmission in forest and across tundra, and unique features of each individual’s howl allow wolves to identify each other. Howling is a long distance contact and reunion call; separate a wolf from its pack, and very soon it will begin howling, and howling, and howling…

That makes me want to never, ever leave him again!

Ami just sent this to me and it was too cute not to post.

Today was a Shiba Day. Snick and I went out this morning and he had a good romp at the dog run and then he sat on the bench with me while I had my coffee. We went to his favorite pet store so he could shop. After a few short hours at home, we headed to a Shiba Meetup at the dog run in Chelsea.

The meetups are almost always a blast, but they’ve become a lot more fun for me in the past few months as I’ve really gotten to know some of the other group members and their dogs. It was gorgeous out today and the dogs had a great time. Snickers got everyone riled up shortly after we got there and then he settled in to survey the crowd from his favorite hilltop perch. Several people commented on "king of the mountain" and "pack leader"" demeanor at the meetups, which I find amusing because one of the guys at our regular dog run calls him the Mayor. He has that attitude everywhere.

I was talking with several people during the course of the meetup about how the meetup group, and then the rescue group, got started and, of course, I blame it all on Snickers. He tells me to do these things for him, so I do. We decided he has some sort of telepathic abilities that he uses for the good of Shibas everywhere. A friend confirmed the mind control theory when she said she had just seen her dog - who tends to be pretty scrappy, especially with other male dogs - happily relinquish a tennis ball to Snick and then back away. Something is up with that!

Snick and I enjoyed a newly finished piece of the Hudson River Park, before stopping at our regular dog run on the way home. We had dinner with Miss ~T~ and Secret, took a nice long nap together and then, of course, we went for another walk! After all the activity, I guess I was too tired to resist the Shiba Mind Control, because Snickers talked me into starting a team for the NYC Shiba Inus to walk in the 2007 Dogswalk for Cancer. Speaking of which, click right on over to mine and Snick’s Dogswalk page and make a little donation to sponsor us if you can.

Edited 04/15/07 3:15pm to add video from the meetup. (I love that a couple members in the group do these videos… too fun!)

So, I’m supposed to be on vacation this week. All I’ve done is work. It’s good though. It’s (1) getting a bunch of past due hanging-over-my-head freelance stuff done and (2) doggie rescue stuff. What have I been up to since my last post? Well, let’s see.

*Foster Mom Terra had already named him Hero when I got there. Poor Hero can walk but it’s pretty wobbly and he falls down sometimes. He has a terrible looking skin condition, which the shelter didn’t tell us anything about before we picked him up. The vet we originally went to wanted a fortune, so I called my vet and they squeezed us in at closing time. They examined him and gave him pain meds and an anti-inflamatory and kept him overnight. They ran blood work to rule out thyroid problems or testicular tumors that could be causing the skin condition.

My vet doesn’t think he has any fresh fractures but he has a good bit of muscle deterioration and arthritis. Mostly likely scenario is that this guy never recuperated from a previous accident (notes from the shelter say he has a plate in his hip from before they got him) and then was injured again recently. His general health checks out pretty well though except for the back legs and the skin. The vet thinks with some exercise and physical therapy he could build his muscle tone up to compensate. He’s only about 5 years old, so he’s got some good years left in him if we can get him healthy and neutered and adopted out. He’s definitely adoptable. He was an angel for us. He never complained when we picked him up. He walked as much as he could and we carried him when he got tired. When we were waiting at the vets he laid down and put his head on my leg. He was just so sweet. He’s got the Shiba pride and stubborn streak though. It showed through even though he was tired and in pain.

**The vet decided to keep Hero a second night. He’s resting comfortably. He has Lyme disease and a low thyroid. Nothing serious though. Vet changed his antibiotic to cover the Lyme disease. He got a bath and will get treated with Revolution in the morning. Vet thinks with good nutrition and exercise he’ll be ready to be neutered in a couple weeks and we’ll redo the blood work then too.

***Terra said he’s walking way better already and she has him settled in at her apartment. Her female Shiba wants to PLAAAAY with him, but she’ll have to wait.

A few days ago, I logged into Meebo and found this message waiting for me:

[12:45] Bibby: Hi, I have been enjoying Snickers Blog for a while. I have a Black and Tan Shiba called Lily, she is 5 months old and we just started puppy classes. Shibas are a new breed to me, I had big dogs in the past. i am amazed everyday how intelligent and brave my little dog is and often forget how young she is. I have also enjoyed the links on to other sites, especially about Shibas escaping, we laughed as Lily could not be held in a puppy pen and baby gates only slowed her for a few days.

[12:45] Bibby: look forward to your new piece

I just want to say "thanks Bibby! you made my day." I know I have a lot of lurkers, because I can see all sort of stats on the hits on my blog each day. It’s nice and fun to get a note now and then though.

Yes, I am certifiably insane.

People ask me sometimes how I deal with the whole single mom with two dogs and two jobs thing all whilst living in midtown Manhattan. I usually shrug and go “eh, it’s not so bad,” meanwhile knowing it probably isn’t normal that I (1) almost never sleep more than 6 hours a night, (2) haven’t had time to sit down and read a book in several years, and (3) only take vacation time from my real job when I need to do something for Miss ~T~, catch up on my freelance work, or clean my apartment. Oh, and have I mentioned that I’m also the treasurer for my local, private dog run and the organizer for the NYC Shiba Inu meetup group?

So… that said, I suddenly decided about six weeks ago that it would be fun to have one of my Shiba meetups be a "canine cocktails" event.

Ahem. Yeah, right. Me and my SIMPLE ideas.

On Tuesday, March 20, at 7pm, the NYC Shiba Inus are hosting EIGHTY PEOPLE - yes, that’s 80 people - at a fund raiser for Animal Haven Soho. If you google canine cocktail pawty, you’ll get an idea why so many people have bought tickets already. Plus, this doesn’t show up in Google yet, but we were featured on a FULL PAGE in Time Out New York! How awesome is that? (It looks better in print.)

If it goes well, which it seems that it will, it may become a regular event. It has its own website and I may even have a corporate sponsor lined up for next time! (More on that if it pans out.)

Anyway, wish me luck. I’ll be taking a LOOOONNNNG NAP when this is all over.

OK, Snicks isn’t in this one, but it’s from the same people and same meetup as the last Shiba video I posted. I noticed it today and had to post it. When this happened, I was standing about 4 feet away, saying "Wow, I can’t believe she has treats and none of them have…."

and then they did. LOL

On a related note, the couple that made this will be at the Cocktail Pawty next week so maybe we’ll get some interesting video documentation of that too!

What good is having a blog if you can’t use it to promote your favorite causes???

What: Cocktails and Hors d’ouvres
When: 7pm, Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Why: to raise money for Animal Haven
Where: Animal Haven SoHo

For more information and to purchase tickets online (before March 12), please visit caninecocktailpawty.com.

Miss ~T~, Snickers, Secret and I are looking forward to seeing all of our New York friends (human and canine) at the party!

A couple weeks ago, the NYC Shiba Inus and their Human Companions (that’s our Meetup Group name), held its first inter-breed meetup. We got together with The Beagle Pack. There were about about 40 dogs there and they had a blast. This video was posted by a Shiba meetup member today and the choice of music really made me laugh.

PS How many times did you spot Snickers?

Edit: To learn why the song choice makes me giggle so (and the Shiba owned will get this best), check out some of the lyrics:

One, two, three and I come with the redneck style
cause you know I get paid by the mile, like Avis
I pave this, fast save this, everybody smile. . .
And act gracious
See I rob banks, I pull pranks, sometimes I eat
Franks and knishes - best wishes - I’m vicious
but here I am again like CNN delivery my friend.

Stick em up punk, it’s the fun lovin criminal
Stick em up punk, it’s the fun lovin criminal

Yes we bug a lot and my friends is loud and. . .
I’m more freaky than disco 2000
I scream, I yell, I bark, I bite
I’ll hit you with an egg on a hot summer night
I never let the cops get wind of me
And I never, ever, ever say die
I never take myself too seriously
cause everybody knows fat birds dont fly

A few weeks ago at one of my NYC Shiba Inu Meetups, someone asked me “do you know who owns this dog?” He was pointing to a poor quality male Shiba standing near me. I replied “Sorry, I don’t. Is something wrong?” He said “No, I’m planning to breed my female and he has all his parts.”

Apparently the only requirement for a mate for his female (which I didn’t see) was a male with balls. <SIGH> I’m not saying the male Shiba in question wasn’t a great pet; he seemed friendly, healthy and well behaved. But this dog was not breeding material! His color and markings were completely wrong, he was not double-coated, and he had a skinny chest. (AKC Shiba Inu breed standard)

I found myself in a tight spot. I wanted to tell this person why what he was considering was a very, very bad idea, but I was there as the organizer of my meetup group and it didn’t seem like a diplomatic time to start a dog run brawl. I ended up holding my tongue, but in a way I regret that. After all, as we’ve discussed here before, the solution to the dog overpopulation problem really is education.

I was thinking about all this a couple days ago and it reminded me of an email I wanted to publish on the blog. Several months back, someone sent an inquiry to a Shiba list that I check sporadically.

Subject: Looking for male shiba in NYC/NJ to breed my sweetheart shiba

Hi,

My sweetheart is a 1.5 year old female shiba (cream). She is belownormal size (only 15 lbs) and perfect for NYC size living condition.several friends of mine seriously urge to have a baby of my shiba. Idiscuss it with my vet and she thought it is fine as long as I havefriend to adopt the babies.the problem now is to find a male shiba for her.Do you have a cream or light brown male shiba around the area? Pleasecontact me and let discuss further. thanks…

Many of the responses to this inquiry were blind outrage and, unfortunately, not very helpful in educating this person. One response however was so thorough and well-written that I asked permission to post it here. This is what it said:

I’m sure there are others who will sugar coat this, but as a former breeder and as someone who rescued Shibas for over 10 years, I have a few comments/suggestions.

1. Clearly, you do not know the breed standard for the Shiba Inu. If you did, you would know that the cream color is considered a fault and there is NO brown Shiba. I presume you are thinking of RED. It may appear to be a light brown color, and that is improper, too. Ideally, it should be a flame orange red but can go all the way to a deep mahogany red. NO responsible breeder intentionally breeds creams.

2. Size. Weight is not the important indicator of size. A Shiba bitch should be between 13.5 to 15.5 inches at the withers. If it is smaller or taller, it is a DQ in the standard. That means it doesn’t reflect what a Shiba should look like.

3. Do you know WHY your female is so lightweight? Does she have normal thyroid levels? Have you checked?

4. Have you taken her to a canine eye specialist to have her eyes examined for cataracts and glaucoma? Either of those diseases IS hereditary and can have devastating consequences. Like blindness or loss of an eye!

5. Have you had your bitch’s hips x-rayed and the x-rays submitted to OFA to be certain she doesn’t have hip dysplasia. This is also hereditary, and can cause lameness severe enough to require surgery.

6. Have you had her patellae (knees) checked to be certain they do not luxate (slip out)? Luxating patellae can require surgery as well.

7. IF you choose to ignore all the above and breed anyway, do you have the money for an emergency C-section, if needed? If the dam cannot produce enough milk, are you available to tube feed 1-5 puppies every 2 hours for several weeks? Puppy replacement formula is VERY expensive. Do you have a plan for what you will do if your female doesn’t survive the labor or delivery? Can you afford the vet care for 1-5 puppies? Can you afford to feed a high quality feed to the pregnant dam and her puppies? The female would be pregnant for 9 weeks, and you must keep the puppies until they are 8 weeks before you can legally sell them. Can you afford to advertise your pups for sale for weeks? I hope you don’t plan to make a profit, as breeding is very expensive!

8. Do you have firm commitments from 1-5 people who will accept a puppy, regardless of gender or color, since you can guarantee neither? What if everyone wants girls and you get only boys? What if everyone wants a cream, and you don’t have any? Breeding cream to cream may not produce cream. Do you have any idea of the quality of the parents of your female? Are there any champions in the first 3 generations? Is she AKC registered? Does she have limited registration? If not, the breeder who sold her isn’t a reputable breeder!

9. A regular vet telling you your dog is healthy is NOT enough. That simply means that it doesn’t APPEAR to have anything wrong during a brief, cursory exam.

10. Do you KNOW how many nice Shibas and mixed-breed Shibas are out there right now, needing to be rescued or re-homed? There are hundreds!

11. If you love your little girl, then do what is best for her. Spay her and enjoy her company for the years to come. Breeding DOES shorten the life of a female and failure to spay DOES dramatically increase the likelihood of mammary cancer.

You are fee to do as you wish, of course, but I hope you will consider the best interest of the Shiba Inu and your female.

Chris
Clarkston, WA
IF you won’t rescue, DON’T breed!

Non-Shiba people don’t believe me when I tell them how careful you have to be with Shibas. They can’t be off leash - NOT EVEN IN SOME FENCED AREAS. My parents have a regular (4 foot?) chain link fence and when Snicks has visited them he is NOT allowed off leash in their backyard. FOUR FEET? That’d be like no fence at all. He went over a dog run fence once that was almost 5 feet. Anyway… back to the point. If you don’t believe it, check this out. Hee hee!

I couldn’t resist. There were so many people on meetup waiting to see if someone would start one, that I finally joined meetup.com and started a NYC Shiba group. For any NYC Shiba folks out there, check it out and join if you’re interested: http://shibainu.meetup.com/101/

The first meetup is scheduled for June 24th at 11:00 AM in the dog run at Madison Square Park.

Received this a few days ago. If any of you in the southeast are looking for a Shiba, here are two females looking for homes.

Subject: Re: Shiba Inus needing rescue?   Date: April 13
From: SBigThumbs@aol.com   To :jg

In January you listed three shibas that needed rescue from Polk County Florida Animal Control. They have all been rescued or adopted, thanks for your help.

I just pulled two others from that same shelter. They are with our rescue and safe but they do need homes.

Two females - shelter estimates 2 yrs old. Heartworm neg, chipped, spayed and shots. They were confiscate from owner with over 100 dogs, mostly pit bulls……

They are on our site…. A New Beginning Pet Care & Rescue, Inc.

Thanks!
Debbie
A New Beginning

 

I’m just busy, busy, busy these days! I hope I’ll still have some readers when I get back to blogging more than random comments and links.

Speaking of links, wanna see a CUTE Shiba Inu? Check out Kishi’s Run for the Money, his siblings and his other pack members.

Shibas? Evil? Never!

Um, well… maybe! Talk about evil eyes!

(These were taken back in October when Snick’s buddy Toshi was over to play again. No Shibas were actually harmed during this playdate.)

9:30 AM: Just received the following answer to my inquiry:

From: SBigThumbs@aol.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:00:46 EST
Subject: Re: Shiba Inus needing rescue?
To: JG

Yes they are still alive. You can contact Polk County the girl there is also named Debbie….888-275-8941 x 230 for an update to see if anyone has pulled any of the dogs yet.

Thanks for your help.
Debbie

9:43 AM: Just received the following email from Janet.

J, I just wanted to let you know I contacted the local shiba rescue folks here to ask if they’d heard of these shibas. Here is the answer I got:

Yes, this was posted to Shiba Rescue and a few other Shiba lists today. A Shiba rescue volunteer in FL has been in touch with the shelter, and is working to pull these Shibas. She’s asked for anyone in her area who can help foster to let her know. So, as of this afternoon, there is someone working to find a place for them.

Thanks for forwarding, it never hurts to contact as many people as
possible to keep these little ones from falling through the cracks.

Hopefully they will find foster homes for them and be able to pull them out of the shelter in time.

11:54 AM: And another update from Janet’s contact at the Northeast Shiba Rescue.

Addtional info about those dogs in FL came through the rescue list this morning. From the information gathered, these dogs have been at the shelter for a long time. The three were found running together. At least one, a red female, is known to be a Shiba, and will be pulled on Monday. The other two are questionable as to whether or not they are Shibas, Shibas Mixes, or another breed or mix. The person pulling the female will also check out the other two, transport is in place for all of the dogs, and they’re working on finding foster care for the other two. Sounds hopeful

12:30 PM: Ami has posted this on her site as well. Let’s find some foster homes!

This was posted on Drive For Life today. I don’t know anything about it, but wanted to share it in case anyone has any ideas or contacts. If I find out more, I’ll edit.

From: SBigThumbs@aol.com

Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 7:57 PM
Subject: Three Shibas that are going to be put down at a shelter in
Central Florida

I was asked by Polk County Animals Services in Winter Haven FL to make a last ditch attempt to get these three rescued. There used to be a rescue here… Central Florida Shiba Rescue, but the woman died.

These three were all impounded together and range from 5-8 yrs old. They are fully vetted and heartworm negative and need to get out of there ASAP!!!

Please contact me with ANYONE that might be able to help.
Debbie
A New Beginning Pet Rescue
321-303-7077

Discovered this Shiba cutie yesterday. Love him already. His mom take lots of cute pictures of him. I’m suddenly motivated to find and post some of Snick’s puppyschmuppy pictures.

Just discovered two Shibas online named Yoshiro and Tsuki. Loved the pictures of them eating birthday cake on at the table!!!

Shibas are the greatest little dogs. They certainly aren’t for everyone, but since T & I got Snickers, I have just fallen madly and completely in love with this breed.

I worry about the fact that they are so adorable though. Shiba puppies look like little stuffed animals. They are a stubborn and difficult breed to own though; they are categorized as a primitive breed, which, combined with how intelligent they are, makes them a handful to manage.

For anyone curious about Shiba’s personalities, here are a few of the best sites I have found on the subject:

• An Introduction to the Shiba, Part One
• An Introduction to the Shiba, Part Two
• The Misanthropic Shiba
• Is a Shiba Right For Me?